The weekend was short, as Gabriel had still some work left to do, which had been left behind after he had spent more time with his wife after they had gotten married than in his office. Though he had managed to attend all of the important video conferences and conversations, he had been behind on his latest clothes line before and was even more under time pressure now. So after taking a bath with Nathalie and having another hot make out session on their bed afterwards, he had apologized to her like a thousand times and gone to his office to try and make a little progress at the very least.
Though not really able to focus on what he wanted to do, he was scribbling on his tablet, hoping in the end something would come out.
A knock on his office door startled him.
"Yes, who is it?", he asked, not used to anybody disturbing him on a Saturday morning.
Carefully Marinette stuck her head through the door, asking hesitantly:
"Do you need some help? Nathalie thought you did, that's why she sent me here. She said, you had never been so far behind on your work and that you probably were just staring at your screen, doing nothing. But I see, she was wrong with that!"
He smiled lovingly at the young woman, thinking how right his beloved wife was with her assumption. He inhaled deeply.
"Just come inside, she was right, I am just drawing useless things, that don't even look like something one could wear!", the designer admitted.
With a giggle the half Chinese teenager entered the office and tried to get a glimpse on what he had drawn. As she eventually got a glance on his tablet, she was overwhelmed.
"Oh my Gosh, this is so cute. You did.....you have decorated the whole nursery.....and it's so pretty. The light colours and the scenes on the walls....How did you do that so fast?" she enthused.
Gabriel looked puzzled.
"What do you..."
And then he looked at the screen as well and his mouth fell open.
"I didn't even realize, that I did that." He shook his head cackling. "Well, even if you are right and it really looks beautiful, I still haven't gotten any further with my new line. I mean, our collaboration on the maternity clothes line has already gone into production, but I need something to show on the next fashion shows. Would you mind to let me have a look at your sketchbook? I would of course give you full credit for everything, that we 'both' may find suitable!", he suggested, looking at Marinette expectantly.
The teenage girl paled instantly.
"Wh-what? A-a-are you suggesting t-to t-take my....creations....into c-c-consideration? That's....wow....I don't know what to say.....I am not sure, that I still know....how to breathe.....oooohh dizzy...."
"Marinette!", he bellowed, making her take a sharp breath in shock. She turned her head and saw him look at her with concern. "Better?", Gabriel asked calmly now.
The girl nodded.
"Thank you, I think I got a little too worked up on this!", she said sheepishly. "Literally forgot to breathe!"
Her, as she was still hoping, future father in law shook his head.
"Am I really still that intimidating to you? I thought while working on the designs for Nathalie, we left that behind us!"
"That's not it, I feel totally normal, when you are around, well as normal as a girl can feel in the presence of her boyfriend's father,who has already seen her without any clothes on top of his son......and I am drifting away from the actual matter.....uhm, I.... would have just never thought..... you would even think about looking at the sketches of someone like me.
I-I feel honored and scared at once", she spat those words out so fast, the designer was barely able to follow her speech. Her head was dark red after remembering the incident, when Gabriel had walked in on them, while they were having there first time.
The middle aged man blushed almost as deeply, but quickly continued his request.
"So, would you like to let me have a look into that well protected sketch book?", he asked.
Marinette giggled.
"Yeah, I make a little bit of a fuzz about my sketch book. But you may of course have a look, I'm on my way to get it already!", she exclaimed happily.
"Wait, I would like to ask one more thing of you. And I hope I am not asking too much from you, but as I am still very busy, do you think you could find the time to accompany Nathalie to her doctor's appointment on Monday? I had the impression, that the two of you have gotten close and she likes spending time with you, is that right?", he inquired reluctantly.
But the young woman beamed at him.
"Of course I don't mind, I would love to go there with her. I really liked listening to the little one's heartbeat. And I also like spending time with Nath, she has a very special kind of humor, once she comes out of her nutshell."
Gabriel laughed.
"Yeah, you're right. So Monday's appointment stands?"
"I will add it to my calendar, when I go get my sketchbook!", Marinette confirmed before she stormed out of the room, running towards Adrien's room.
The boy's father chuckled lightly and grabbed his tablet to show his wife, what he had drawn. Despite feeling bad, that he didn't even notice, what he was doing, he was rather proud of the design for their daughter's nursery.
"I should have known, that I would make you cry again", he whispered remorsefully into Nathalie's ear as he hugged her after showing her the drawings. "Please don't cry, my love, it's just a drawing."
He rocked her back and forth, while he patted her head.
"I'm sorry, Honey! It's just so b-b-beautiful.....I l-l-love it so m-m-much!", she sobbed into his chest, soaking his shirt with her tears.
Gabriel smiled compassionately.
"And I love you. I asked Marinette, if she would like to be my substitute for your appointment on Monday and she is already looking forward to it. I hope that's okay?"
Nathalie nodded.
"Of course, I know, that you need to finish your designs. And I like having Marinette around. She always manages to get me into a better mood as I was in before!"
"That's splendid!"
As it was the first day of the winter vacations, Adrien had decided to sleep in on Monday, while his girlfriend had set her alarm for eight o'clock in the morning, so that she and Nathalie could have breakfast together before the Gorilla would be driving them over to the doctor's office.
When they arrived there at half past nine, the waiting area was filled with women, who were all waiting for a doctor. As Marinette went with the pregnant woman to the reception, Nathalie asked curiously:
"Good morning, what is going on here? I haven't seen the office as full yet!"
The lady behind the desk replied friendly:
"Oh this will be over rather quickly. Two of our doctors were stuck in traffic due to an accident on their way here. The third has already started the examinations, but if course he can't be as fast, as if the other two were here!"
"Oh, I see. Should we come back later?", the assistant offered.
"Oh no, Mrs. Agreste, the doctor is already waiting for you after your CTG. If you would follow me please!"
The two females did as she said and walked right behind the doctor's assistant into the small room with a stretcher on the back wall and a small device that did the actual work. After Nathalie had been connected with that small, printer like thing, by two round, transmitters, that were attached to her stomach with a belt for each, they were left alone.
Marinette had already started to get scared, because the woman couldn't find the baby's heart beat at first. Nathalie though explained giggling, that each time the woman's hand got too close, the little girl was pushing herself into the other direction.
But eventually it worked, either because the little one had given up or because she had fallen asleep. Though Nathalie had told her on the way, that the baby had to be awake for that and despite being very active all the time, it would be sleeping every time she was going to the CTG.
That had made the girl laugh.
"I can't wait to meet that little girl with such a strong personality ", she snickered.
"Yeah, me too", the older female responded. "We are still thinking about a name though, because we couldn't agree on one yet. Either I hate it or Gabriel thinks it's not good enough for our little girl. He wants it to be special and unique!"
"And what do you want?", Marinette had become curious.
"Something with a meaning, but still beautiful and old, you know?"
"Mh, I am sure you are going to find one soon!", the girl assured her.
Nathalie nodded.
"I guess. But I am still open for suggestions!"
They smiled at each other, then, just by understanding each other, they went both quiet and just listened to the quick beating of the baby's little heart.
This time she had to stay in the little room for only twenty minutes, because the doctor, even though his two colleagues had arrived by now, was still helping to catch up on all the examinations that had been delayed for that reason. 'Not' letting the wife of 'the' Gabriel Agreste and mother of his child wait for too long, of course was still a priority to him.
He would have taken his time for Nathalie despite that though, after hearing her story and learning how self-sacrificing she had shown when it came to the decision of keeping that baby or not. The things, Gabriel had told him, had only made him admire and respect this patient more, than he already did.
In the beginning he had only felt pity for her, her emaciated body, her deep sadness, her desperation. She had tried to not show any emotions at all at her first appointment.
But after he had told her that in that state, she was in, a termination of the pregnancy would be her best option, the mostly so steady and strong appearing woman had broken down in front of him.
Seeing her cry, shaken by violent sobs, had touched him more than anything else he had seen for at least twenty five years. And so he had promised her, after injection a very mild sedative, so she wouldn't get worse because of her stressing out too much, that he would try to do, whatever he could, if she decided to have that baby after all.
He had rarely been as relieved as much in his life, as he was, when she came to her second appointment and her health condition had so very much improved.
Now he was entering the examination room, and held out his hand for Nathalie and then to Marinette.
"I see you brought someone new to back you up", he said with a smile. "How are you doing? And how did the 'out of bed time' on Saturday go? Could you cope with being up or did you experience any new contractions? As I told your husband, only painful ones, because as you are in your third trimester by now, several Braxton-Hicks-contractions a day are totally normal."
"Saturday......well......let me start with your first question.....uhm....."
"Was there something wrong on Saturday? You should tell me, if something happened!", the physician explained sternly.
Nathalie took a short glimpse at Marinette, who had a deep red face and tried ever so hard to not burst into laughter. She quickly turned her attention back to the older man in front of her and continued to speak:
"There was nothing wrong on Saturday. To your first question: I am feeling really good at the moment. Well, there is an annoying, little pain in my back, but I am still trying to just ignore that one. Despite that, I am really feeling good. Saturday....well......went very well. No contractions and I think I might have been active a little more than an hour."
She grinned sheepishly and looked to the ground while she heard a snort coming from the girl next to her.
The doctor looked from one woman to the other, before he questioned further:
"What am I missing? Something seems to be funny, yet I don't know what it is."
Now the teenager broke into a guffaw and even Nathalie started to giggle.
Eventually Marinette whisper-yelled towards the man:
"I am not sure what they were doing exactly, but we could hear the sounds of their make out session at the other end of the mansion in Adrien's room!"
The pregnant woman slapped both hands to her mouth and gasped.
"Oh for fuck's sake", she whispered towards the young female, "I thought you had just taken a good guess. Why did none of you tell us, that you could hear...." She shook her head vigorously.
Seeing the knowing smile on her gynaecologists face she blushed even more. The grey haired man cleared his throat and asked:
"So I understand you were having..."
"No, we were not!", Nathalie interrupted him. We were both too scared to....you know....but there are other really nice....uhm....things...well....we agreed to ask if we still could ir if we should wait until after....."
"There is no need for you to be ashamed, Mrs. Agreste. Neither for you Miss...? Sorry, I forgot to ask for your name."
"Oh no, I'm the one who should be sorry. I could've introduced myself at the very beginning, I am Marinette."
"Well, Marinette, there is no need for you to be ashamed either. What are you to Mrs. Agreste by the way? Friend, family?"
The two women looked at each other and shrugged.
"She is the girlfriend of Adrien, my husband's son!", Nathalie replied.
"Oh please!", Marinette blurted out. "You know very well, that this is the understatement of the century. This woman has not only managed Gabriel's business for the last years, she has also made his and Adrien's schedule and has taken care of all their needs. You know, that Adrien sees you as his mum, right? I know, that you're too young to be, but still, he said, he feels closer to you than to Gabriel or Emilie. Yeah, I know, Emilie is dead, but over those four years she was in a coma and couldn't be there for him, I know that you were. He told me about it and so did Gabriel...........Oh no........I didn't mean to yell at you! Please don't cry.....I........"
She jumped to her feet and went over to the sobbing woman to pull her into a tight embrace.
"I'm so sorry", the teenage girl whispered, "I didn't mean to make you so sad. Please stop crying, Nath!"
She stroked along her head as she said that. The doctor though beamed at the girl.
"I am pretty sure, that you just made her so happy, that she started to cry, Miss Marinette", he stated. "It's good, that she has someone like you at her side. Don't give me that look, I can see, that you are very young, but I can also see, that you really care." The doctor gave her an approving move with his head. Then he looked at the sniffling Nathalie and suggested:
"How about getting the examination done, so you two girls can have a nice afternoon together?"
The pregnant woman nodded. After taking the paper tissue, that Marinette found somewhere in her little, pink purse, she went to the small booth to undress.
The man smiled towards the waiting teenager.
"Though you were looking rather flustered as well, I had the feeling, that you knew, what you were talking about. If you have any questions according your body, contraception or whatever you want to know, while you're waiting, don't be shy, just ask me." Behind his hand he whispered: "That's part of my job, you know?"
Marinette giggled.
"That's very kind of you, but I think I'm fine!"
"Yeah, sure", Nathalie, who was just returning, scoffed.
The physician raised his brows.
"Anything 'you' would like to ask for the young lady?", he directed his question to the now halfway naked woman.
While climbing onto the examination chair, Nathalie told him about the conversation she had overheard:
"Well, just to avoid another 'accident', and I agree with her, that she wouldn't remember taking a pill each day, what would you suggest?"
While the girl blushed scarlet red, the old man just patted her shoulder and smiled at her.
"There is no need to feel embarrassed, Miss Marinette. There are other options than the pill or condoms. I suppose the 'accident' Mrs. Agreste mentioned happened with one of those?"
The teenager nodded reluctantly.
"Well, if you really don't want to take a pill every day..."
"It's not a problem of wanting to, it's a problem of remembering!", Marinette interjected.
Now the doctor cackled.
"Right, there is still the same solution to both. Are you scared of needles?"
She shook her head.
"Brilliant. Then I would recommend an injection every third month. Works almost as good as the pill, but you don't have to remember every day!"
"Sounds at least better than searching for the slippery, little assholes, after accidentally shooting them across the room!", she mumbled to herself.
The adults had heard her though and began to laugh.
Half an hour later, the two women stepped out of the elevator and then through the exit into the Parisian streets.
"No!", Nathalie hissed and froze in the spot.
"What's wrong? Is it the baby again? Are you hurting?", Marinette asked with concern.
But the pregnant woman just shook her head and grabbed the girls arm to pull her behind herself.
"When I say so, then run and get help, okay?", she said through her teeth.
"Nathalie wh..." Then she saw him.
Mr. Sancoeur was approaching them, his gaze locked on his daughter, while he pulled something out of the inside of his coat. When she saw, what the man who she had called father once, was holding in his hand, she almost fainted. Giving Marinette a hard push, to get her out of the way, she yelled:
"Now, go!"
Everything happened like it was in slow motion. Marinette saw the gun in the old man's hand, she heard Nathalie yell and push her away. She saw Mr. Sancoeur aim at his own daughter, aim directly onto her belly. The girl tried to get to her feet and bring the pregnant woman out of range, but she knew she wouldn't be in time.
Then she heard a male voice, shouting: "Nooooo!"
Next she heard a deafening bang and saw the woman who had probably just saved her life fall to the ground, a familiar looking man on top of her.
Marinette was trembling all over as she crawled towards them.
Now she recognized him. It was Nathalie's ex husband, the one who had beaten her almost to death. He looked at the girl now, tears streaming down his face, blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth.
"Tell.....her....I am sorry....for....being......too..........slow......I....couldn't stop.....him....earlier."
Then his eyes turned dull and his head fell on Nathalie's chest.
Marinette quickly rolled him off of the pregnant woman, so he wouldn't hurt her or the baby with his weight, when she saw blood coming out of the assistant's chest.
"Oh no, no, no! Nath, can you hear me? Talk to me please!", she shrieked, while she tried to stop the bleeding with her bare hands.
"I hear you". Nathalie responded weakly. "Did he hit the baby?"
The young woman shook her head rapidly.
"No, but you are hurt Nath. Can somebody please call an ambulance?", she shouted towards the gathering onlookers.
A hand on her shoulder startled her. As she turned her head to see who it was, she recognized the doctor, who had just examined Nathalie a moment before and given Marinette the injection they had talked about.
"I will take care of her, Marinette. Do you think, you can inform Mr. Agreste?"
She nodded.
"I th-think I-I can d-d-do that."
Thirty seven minutes later, Gabriel and Adrien ran into the hospital and up the stairs to the floor Marinette had told them she was waiting on for any news.
"Marinette!", Adrien called out to her, the moment he spotted her on a chair in the corner of the waiting area, her knees pulled to her chest, her arms hugging her legs.
When she heard her boyfriend call her name, she ran directly into his arms and began to sob.
The young man held her in a tight embrace until she could eventually stop crying.
Gabriel was pacing impatiently back and forth.
"Have you heard something new yet?", he interrogated the young girl.
Marinette shook her head.
"They said they would immediately begin with the surgery and they haven't come back yet to tell me anything. All I know is, that she has lost a lot of blood. She fell unconscious before we arrived here. The baby's heartbeat was alright though. They said they both will be fine, if they can stop the bleeding very soon."
Gabriel laid his arms around both teenagers now and pulled them against his chest.
"Adrien, go and get for the two of you something to eat and to drink. I'll wait here until they can tell me anything."
He swallowed in an attempt to hold back the tears.
Marinette laid a hand onto his forearm.
"She will be fine, they both are going to be fine."
The designer nodded.
"Thank you Marinette. Now go and get some food. But maybe you should wash the blood off your hands and arms first."
While the young couple went to get a hot cocoa, because neither of them felt like eating right now, a young, female doctor approached Gabriel.
"Mr. Agreste?"
"Yes?", he said anxiously.
"Well, I have good and less good news for you. The good news are, that we were able to stop the bleeding and that no important organ has been hit. The not so good news are, that she has lost a lot of blood. For now we could stabilize her, but we can't tell if she will survive the night. The baby is okay though, but if your wife's state gets worse, we will probably have to make a C-section and deliver the baby tonight."
Gabriel closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
"C-Can I see her?"
"Of course. Follow me please!"
The woman led him into a room, where a very pale Nathalie was connected to all kinds of screens, tubes and machines that were monitoring every tiny function of her body, as well as the baby's.
He sat down on a chair beside the bed and took one of her hands, that wasn't attached to any tube or cable, into his own, while he placed the other on her stomach.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, as he felt the familiar reaction of his child right underneath his palm.
He bent over and placed a soft kiss on Nathalie's cheek, before he said:
"I am here, Nathalie. I love you so much. I can't be without you anymore. Please don't die, my love. We both need you!"